Amarillo by Morning

Literally.

We pulled out of the parking lot of our apartment at 1:3o am. I honestly think we were crazy for driving that late early. Noah used to love being in his car seat and travel in the car, but ever since he became mobile we are lucky if he is happy in his carseat for over an hour. So we no longer travel during the day, or at least we won't until Noah gets a little older and can entertain himself.

Josh got off work at midnight, he drove home, and we put everything in the car. The drive to Amarillo was not too bad; in fact, it actually went by really quick. At least the first four hours went by quick. The last two we were both really tired, but we kept each other awake.

We pulled in Papa and Grammy's driveway around 7:15 am, and we were so glad to be there. Thankfully, Papa and Grammy offered to watch Noah for us so we could sleep for while. Later that evening we all went to Kabuki (one of our favorite restaurants in Amarillo) to celebrate Noah's big day. It was so so so so so good. Before we went home we had to stop by Albertson's to get a few things for Noah's cake, and while we were there Papa bought Noah a football balloon. Noah loved it--he had a death grip on that thing, and it was hilarious.

You may cringe when you hear what kind of cake Noah ate for his birthday, but I'm not lying when I tell you it is the best cake ever. Grammy made Noah a mayonnaise cake, and he LOVED it! The mayonnaise cake is a Bonjour family tradition. Darrell's mother made it for him growing up, and then Gay Lynn made it for Josh, Joseph, and Quentin, so there would be no other cake worthy enough to put in front of Noah for his first birthday. And Josh informed me, I WILL be making it for our children too. Well of course!

And that night Noah drank whole milk for the very first time! The transition from Similac to whole milk has been easy. Noah loves his milk just like his daddy!



We all had such a wonderful time celebrating Noah's birthday! Later that evening Uncle Quentin and Uncle Joseph arrived after we had all gone to bed. We didn't think Quentin would be able to come for the weekend because he lives in Stamford, but Joseph went to pick him up and brought him to Amarillo. One of the last things Quentin said to me before we left was, "Don't forget to put me on the blog!" Haha. Here is a sweet picture of Noah and Quentin playing together.

The next morning we had an appointment to see Dr. Fletcher for Noah's one-year check up. At that visit Noah would be getting four shots, so I decided to call to see if we could change the visit to Thursday instead of Friday since Noah's birthday party was on Saturday. It wasn't possible to change it, so we went in crossing our fingers the shots wouldn't affect Noah's mood the rest of the weekend.

It was great seeing Dr. Fletcher again, and we were sad knowing it would be the last time Noah came to see him. He has been a great pediatrician, and we are so thankful for all the care he gave to Noah throughout his first year. Dr. Fletcher said he looked wonderful and was a good lookin' guy (I couldn't agree more)! Noah weighed 24 lbs and measured 29 inches long! What a big boy!

Before we left the office Noah had to get four shots, and I think these were the worst yet. After we got back to the house, Noah was ok for a few minutes, but then started bawling wanting Mama to hold him. It went on like that all day. Poor baby. We gave him Tylenol and Motrin throughout the day to help with the pain, and later in the evening he seemed like he was feeling better.

Granddad, Mimi, Megan, Nana, and Roger arrived in Amarillo around dinner time, so we met them at Abuelo's. It was so much fun being together, and it was so sweet of them to come all the way from Oklahoma City for Noah's birthday party. We ate some good ol' Mexican food, and then decided to go over to Nana and Roger's hotel room to hang out some more and open a few of Noah's birthday presents. The time we had together that evening was so special. It was like our own little party for Noah. It was so funny because Noah was so uninterested in opening any of his presents. He just wanted to crawl around the hotel room and occasionally would come over to see what he got. He really loved his sports toy Nana and Roger got for him, but I won't go into detail about that because Josh "reserved" it to blog about. Ha.

Anyway, here are a few pictures of our evening together. Again, thank you all for coming to Amarillo to see us and for Noah. We were so thankful for the time we got to spend with you!



Well I better stop for now. My new goal is to make it in bed by 11 pm every night. It has been so hard lately getting up early with Noah in the mornings, so I have decided I have to get myself in bed at a decent hour. Tomorrow I will post about Noah's Birthday Party! We had so much fun, and I am so anxious to tell you about it and to show you more pictures.

Have a wonderful night!